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Nerval's Lobster writes "Retail giant Target continues to drastically downplay the impact of the massive data breach it suffered during December, even while admitting the number of customers affected is nearly twice as large as it had previously estimated. Target admitted today the massive data breach it suffered during the Christmas shopping season was more than twice as large and far more serious than previously disclosed. A Jan. 10 press release admits the number of customers affected by the second-largest corporate data breach in history had increased from 40 million to 70 million, and that the data stolen included emails, phone numbers, street addresses and other information absent from the stolen transactional data that netted thieves 40 million debit- and credit-card numbers and PINs. 'As part of Target's ongoing forensic investigation, it has been determined that certain guest information — separate from the payment card data previously disclosed — was taken during the data breach' according to Target's statement. 'This theft is not a new breach, but was uncovered as part of the ongoing investigation.' The new revelation does represent a new breach, however, or at least the breach of an unrelated system during the period covered during the same attack, according to the few details Target has released. Most analysts and news outlets have blamed the breach on either the security of Target's Windows-based Point-of-Sale systems or the company's failure to fulfill its security obligations under the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)."

According to the Census Bureau [census.gov], there're about 115 million households in the US. Target has basically admitted that the theft amounts to their entire database.

I'd like to think that this would mean the end of the credit reporting rackets; how can anybody even pretend any more that that data is meaningful when this sort of fraud is taking place? But I also wanted to think that the Snowden revelations would have meant the end of the NSA, so clearly I'm not somebody anybody is paying or should pay attention to.

I'm a plaintiff's attorney and I filed before Christmas. Lots of other firms out there with lots of other cases.

Target should have had at least had one sys admin to see that kind of data bump crossing their network while the breach occurred. They advertise for techs that can use Hadoop. They have to understand something about data and bandwidth with 100 million names in a database.

With that amount of data crossing the servers, shouldn't someone seen something?

There's more. Write me if you want info about mine or other cases. target at paulwhalen dot com

[nothing within this post shall be considered a legal opinion, solicitation or attorney advertising]

Not sure why you think credit card companies don't care about fraud. They invest a lot in systems that study CC usage to flag transactions for possible fraud. In the last year, I've had 3 situations where a transaction has been declined until I contact the CC to verify that they are legitimate transactions. You might not feel that they do enough, but they certainly have an effort. There is just a point of diminishing returns where they've decided that it's not worth the extra effort to get fraud down below a certain level.

About 20 years ago somebody behind me at a Detroit gas station had their tank of gas billed to my credit card. A few years ago Sony gave it all away. Next year I'm sure there will be another security breach. And the year after that. And the year after that. I shop in Target every week with my Target credit card, and I will continue to do so. They are going to get you one way or another. Or they aren't.
Target obviously screwed up, their security was lax, their investigation is pathetic, their forth coming with the news leaves alot to be desired. But I'm not going to kill myself, cut up all my credit cards and start using cash, or leave the country. I don't blame people for not shopping there anymore, or switching to cash, but I just don't care anymore. This shit happens all the time, every day people have their identity stolens, it sucks, but it's part of everyday life now, no getting around it. Well suppose tehre's the Amish way, but thats just not for me.

Well, point taken. But not long ago, a friend's card was stolen, so he cancelled it. The next month, he got a bill from the credit card company. It appeared that the thief went and filled up his gas-tank, as well as either a buddy's, or a boat or something, 3 Fridays in a row, same gas station, roughly same time of the day. The credit card company assured him that he wasn't expected to pay, and that they'd cancelled the card. next month, same thing, roughly same amount, roughly same time, same day (Friday) same gas station. Again he called, same response - "no worries". Next month, same thing. Finally he told them, "He look, this guy's going to be there next Friday at about [whatever time it was], why not just have the cops waiting? They basically told him that sometimes it takes a while before the gas station pumps are capable of registering that the card is bad/cancelled, and that there was no need to alert the police.

To me, this is an indicator that they don't care. I mean, that card was their property, and they knew that it was being used illegally, and yet they didn't want to get the police involved. I mean, it's not a shit-ton of money, maybe $400/month, but for 3 months? Of course, this may just be a 'bug' in their system, to do with gas tanks specifically, and maybe now that bug is fixed. But the people that he spoke with on the phone never had a doubt in their minds as to what to tell him. They never had to ask a manager, or anything like that. As though that type of thing happens a lot, and they knew how to 'handle' it.